Their companion ebook site - coolerbooks.com -seems to allow choosing several different readers and restricts titles which will not work with the selected reader. The only format I have found is Adobe Digital Editions. I'm wondering if Adobe is backing this venture.

I tried a few titles and have seen mobipocket and microsoft reader on that site. I'm going to guess Adobe will be the predominant format. May have to test more titles tonight to see if there is a pattern.

Device: Shocked by how much I've read on an iPod Touch received as a gift!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynabook

Their companion ebook site - coolerbooks.com -seems to allow choosing several different readers and restricts titles which will not work with the selected reader. The only format I have found is Adobe Digital Editions. I'm wondering if Adobe is backing this venture.

If you look at the photo 6 of 25 on the engadget site article, the 'battery compartment' door on the back has the printed text:

"Contains Reader Mobile technology by
Adobe® Systems Incorporated"

I wonder if Adobe has a stake, or if Interead just licensed the Adobe ADE technology?

It is an early version of the Astak Mentor Lite, built by Netronix, debuting next month BUT with no Netronix Software... it is their own and not as good. Suspect that this device also uses what is known in the panel business as a "B Grade Panel", cheap but fuzzy with lower resolution. A "B Grade" is a panel that was rejected by the factory as not good enough. Also will not have Adobe Digital Editions on it. There are numerous other differences, all of which are minuses and not additions.

Fictionwise has 100,000 eBook titles, Ingram Digital has about 130,000 titles, Overdrive has about 150,000 titles. THAT is essentially it for Digital Content unless you include the old classics from Google at 500,000. So, I think you are already seeing a bit of a sham regarding titles they claim.

If this is $250 (doubtful) and you can get a Mentor Lite WITH A-grade panel and Adobe Digital Editions and Netronix Software for $289... I would be careful about this one.

The result is the Cool-er and Coolerbooks.com, an online store for the US with 260,000 paid-for titles at launch from all the major publishers, compared to around 250,000 on Amazon. Around 60,000 titles will be available in the UK and Europe initially.

However, browsing Coolerbooks.com, with all ebook formats selected, does not give me the impression that they have 260K titles.